For decades fossil fuels were seen as a safe bet – untl one simple study by a team of fund managers in 2011.

by ed King

“I think it’s a bollocks subject. I’m not interested in this kind of representng the ‘carbon bubble’ of assets that cannot be used through subject. I think this is complete hot air.” the streets of New York ahead of the 2014 UN climate summit. This was the fruity view of an oil and gas trader in 2011, when asked The bubble eventually burst in Wall Street, on the horns of the to comment by the FT on a study suggestng fossil fuel reserves could Merrill Lynch bull. become stranded assets due to new climate laws. The world’s top oil, gas and coal majors have long resisted pressure Not so long ago the idea oil, gas and coal companies could be from environmentalists to take climate change seriously. wildly overvalued and at risk from future greenhouse gas cutng regulatons was greeted with scorn. For years, many bankrolled climate denial campaigns, secretly lobbying governments to water down green laws while investng Roll on four years and the ‘Unburnable Carbon’ report by the Carbon heavily in exploring new reserves across the planet. Tracker Initatve – a group of ex-fund managers, oil analysts and lawyers – has big oil running scared. “The [climate] models aren’t that good,” Exxon-Mobil chief executve Rex Tillerson told shareholders earlier this year. Peabody Energy CEO These scions of capitalism were even embraced by ant-capitalist Greg Boyce spun a similar line to his investors. protestors, who carried a giant infatable silver and black ball The science is “fawed”, he said. The supposed climate crisis was a mirage. Historically generous dividends from fossil fuel investments once insulated chief executves like Tillerson and Boyce from critcism. Shareholders knew they were on a winner. That confdence has started to wane, cracked by the collapse in global oil prices and the implosion of the US coal industry.